Desborough Study : Settlement Records
John and Mary Cooper
Removal Order 18th December 1762
from Desborough to
Braybrooke
Northamptonshire to wit: To the Churchwardens and Overseers of
the poor of the Parish of Desborough in the County of
Northampton aforesaid and to the
Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the Parish of
Braybrooke in the said County of Northampton and to each and
every of them.
Upon Complaint of the
Churchwardens and Overseers of the poor of Parish of Desborough
in the said County of Northampton unto us whose names are
hereunto Set and Seals affixed being toe of his Majesty's
Justices of the Peace in and for the said County of Northampton
(and one of us the Quorum) that John Cooper the Younger Mary his
Wife Thomas their son aged Nine Years, John their son Aged Six
Years, William their son aged Three Years, and Robert their son
aged one years do now Inhabit in the said Parish of Desborough
not having gained a legal Settlement there and that the said
John Cooper did ask relief and was relieved by the Parish
Officers of Desborough aforesaid and are now Chargeable to the
said Parish of Desborough, We the said Justices upon due proof
made thereof as well upon the Examination of the sd John Cooper
upon Oath, and likewise upon due consideration had thereof do
adjudge the same to be true and we do likewise adjudge that the
legal place of settlement of them the said John Cooper Mary his
Wife Thomas, John William & Robert their Children is in the said
Parish of Braybrooke in the said County of Northampton.
We do therefore require you the said Churchwardens and
Overseers of the said Parish of Desborough or some or one of you
to convey the said John Cooper Mary his Wife, Thomas, John,
William and Robert their Children from and out of your said
Parish of Desborough to the said Parish of Braybrooke and them
deliver to the Churchwardens and overseers of the Poor there or
to some or one of them together with this our Order or a true
Copy thereof at the same time showing to them the Original and
we do also hereby require you the said Churchwardens and
Overseers of the Poor of the said Parish of Braybrooke to
receive and Provide for them as Inhabitants of your Parish,
Given under our hands and Seals this 18th day of December 1762
John Ball
T Hill
Note: This removal order shows clearly that long residence in a
place did not entitle anyone to 'legal settlement' there. The Cooper family,
judging by baptism and burial records, had been living in Desborough since
at least 1716. John himself was baptised at Desborough in 1731, was married
there in 1751, and his first three children were definitely baptised there.
John's father, John senior, and one of his brothers, Robert, both
produced settlement certificates from Braybrooke in
1715/16 and 1749 respectively.